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The Land of Mounds and Xenon is where you decide to camp. The ship crashed here, so you have shelter and supplies and It's a brief reprieve from the fighting and you are glad to have some time to relax, some space to breath and sort everything out. Man you have some crazy shit to get straight. But this quiet time leaves you alone in your head and your head is never a nice place to be.
It's really not
You are sitting on a moss-covered rock about 8 meters away from John and Jake, pretending to focus on messaging Roxy while watching them from behind your shades. You are mainly focused on Jake and the wide, gorgeous smile on his face as John conjures human shaped figures and isometric patterns out of wind.
It's very beautiful, the wind art he is controlling, and John has a similar smile when he hands off one of his creations to Jake, making it walk in his palm. Jake laughs, delighted, wind whipping the hair out of his face and tugging on his clothes, Johns long hood winds around them both. They look...amazing together.
Jake looks a far happier with John than he ever does with you and that kinda, really hurts.
Your attention is dragged away when Dave materializes to your left out of fucking nowhere, landing lightly on his feet next to you. He raises his hand in a greeting.
'Bro.'
You nod at him slightly.
'Yo.'
It's an odd feeling being called Bro, you call him Bro too, because he was. He is. Just a younger, more permanent version of the person you knew. Calling each other by your names feels weird because...just because. You can't bring yourself to call him Dave and he doesn't call you Dirk. An unspoken rule between you.
The excited chatter of John and Jake draws his gaze and you look over to see Jake is now producing some sort of glowing light with his fingers. It illuminates their faces and for seconds they look ethereal, unworldly and you feel you breath catch in you throat. You glance to see if Dave noticed your slip, but he is too busy looking at John. You know that look. The softness around his eyes and mouth that gives away Dave's feelings - It may look expressionless to the outside but you are a connoisseur of the Strider face-mask. It's the look you have been giving Jake for as long as you can remember and it aches in your chest a little, to see your Bro in a similar state.
It must be a Strider thing, you decide, falling deep into gay rainbow-flavoured love with your best friend. Going by that logic it must also be a Strider thing to quietly observe said friend, bottling all your feeling behind the famous deadpan look that you have worked so hard to achieve. You open you mouth, trying to find the right words because the usually verbose Dave is silent, watching the two figures ahead of you.
'Do you-'
You break off, gesturing toward John. He stops staring at them to look at you, you can see your reflection in his shades and he smiles, a little tug at the corner off his mouth.
'Yeah. Same for you and Jake?'
You swallow.
'Yeah, yeah I am.'
You mimic his smile, right down to the pang of pain at the edge. You want to tell him you know, you know how it feels, but you can't find your voice. Not that it would matter, you can't even sort out your own feelings or give them a voice, let alone someone else's. Your gaze drops to the ground instead, and you can't see but Dave probably did the same thing.
The swirl of wind that appears at your feet to slightly alarming. Your head jerks up only to see your shock splayed out on Dave's face, and you both switch your gaze to the two figure in front of you. They are both looking in your direction, John's hand is raised, directing the wind to engulf your body.
John lifts both you and Dave up effortlessly, floating you over toward him, and apparently both Striders are at a loss because neither of you makes any move to escape. He dumps you down in Jake's lap and Dave lands in his, Jake's arms go around your waist, holding you steady, preventing you from leaping off and absconding. Dave ends up in a similar position in John's lap.
Johns eyes are twinkling and he is grinning, Jake's laugh reverberates in his chest. You can feel yourself relaxing into the warm embrace despite everything.
'Oh my god, Jake, Striders are terrible at this aren't they?' John shoots from over Dave's shoulder.
You can hear the grin in Jake's voice,
'Gosh, that they are, standing all they way over yonder, just watching and brooding. Awful business John.'
'Striders don't brood!' You and Dave exclaim simultaneously, then you both blink at each other, surprised.
John and Jake are gone after that, both of them laughing so hard they almost dislodge their respective blond boyfriends. You are fighting the smile that threatens to break out across your face, then Dave catches your eye and you are both grinning.
Jake squeezes your waist affectionately, when he manages to stop chuckling, random giggles keep bursting from John's lips and you have gotten your face back under control.
'Anyway, Jake,' John continues, face pink from laughing 'Why do you think they choose to stand away from us when everyone knows all they wanna do is come over a plant a big, wet smooch on blehgbtt-'
John is cut off when Dave twist in his arms and grabs his face, kissing him squarely on the mouth. John is laughing and Dave is smiling so much they can barely make their lips meet and they look so perfect.
Jake catches your chin in one of his hands, turning your head to face him. He is smiling at you and god he is so handsome. You run your eyes over his face before leaning down to kiss him. You are so in love with this boy it is not even funny. He kisses you back, soft and slow and full of something sweet and treacle-like. You drink it in, breathless, moving your lips with his, parting them when he runs his tongue along the seam of you mouth. His tongue is warm and tender as it strokes against yours and his teeth tug on your bottom lip as he pulls away - you can feel a flush crawling up your neck.
He presses a few more kisses to you lips, then to the back of your neck when you turn back around. You are a melted Strider shaped-pile in his lap, your mask slipped and broken. You don't even care.
You glance at the John-Dave bundle opposite you – John is making tiny, wind-figures walk up and down Dave's wrists and your Bro is stopping them in time. John is cheating and distracting Dave by pressing little, darting kisses under his jaw and whispering things in his ear.
That's not fair.
You concentrate, projecting a figment of consciousness behind them, a mirror image of you appears behind them. Jake chuckles and hides his face in your shoulder, watching mirror-you stalk up silently behind them. The projection grabs John's waist, tickling him and he convulses in shock and tries to squirm out of its grip, laughing. The figures freeze and dissipate. Much better.
'Hey! Dirk, no fair! Stop- Dave help, oh my god!'
John wiggles and squirms, and blasts it away with a tiny hurricane and Dave laughs at him, tossing a salute in your direction. John pouts then Dave kisses it off his face, and you realise this is the first time you have seen Bro smile. It suits him. You think he should wear it more often. Jake smiles into the skin of your neck and settles you more firmly against him, lacing his fingers with yours.
And for once, you feel...happy.